Color does a lot of work in a photo before anyone notices composition or expression. Looking back through my galleries, I realized I don't shoot one signature palette. I shoot a few, depending on what the moment calls for.
Weddings and elopements: warm and golden, whenever the day allows it. I lean into golden hour hard when I can, especially late in the day. That warm light carries through the ceremony, the details, the portraits after. But real weddings don't always hand you perfect light, so this gallery also includes overcast afternoons, string-light evening receptions, and low indoor light. The golden hour work is my signature, but it's not the only story.
Portraits: two different moods, on purpose. Outdoors, I go earthy. Greens, browns, natural light, nothing over-processed, the kind of tones that let Colorado's landscape do some of the work. But in studio sessions, I go the opposite direction: solid black backdrops, dramatic contrast, punchy light that makes the subject pop. Both are part of my portrait work. It's not one palette, it's knowing which one a session calls for.
Life's Moments: bright and saturated. Events get a different energy entirely. Rich color, bold décor, food and detail shots with real punch and depth. Less about mood, more about capturing the actual vibrance of the room.
Wandering Eye: bold color, built from my own travels. This gallery is different from the rest. It's not client work, it's the places I've explored and the moments that caught my eye along the way: prairie churches at golden hour, bison in dramatic light, flowers and small details from wherever I've traveled. These are images I'm offering for sale, a chance to bring home something from a place or a moment that resonated with someone the way it did with me. Color-wise, it's rich and saturated rather than restrained, but the real story here is the exploring.
Product & Property: clean and true-to-life. This is a different job entirely. Jewelry gets a neutral black or white backdrop so the piece is the only color story that matters. Real estate gets bright, accurate, inviting light, walls and rooms that look exactly as good in person as they do in the photo. No mood-setting here, just clarity.
Across every gallery, you'll also notice black and white shows up again and again, in weddings, portraits, and even quieter moments elsewhere. It's not a fallback when color isn't working. It's a deliberate choice when a moment is more about emotion or timelessness than about the palette around it.
The common thread isn't one color story. It's that every palette is a deliberate choice, matched to what the subject and the client actually need, whether that's warmth, drama, vibrance, or simply getting out of the way and letting the piece or the room speak for itself.